Smoking

Smoking, or being around people who are smoking, can reduce your fertility and that of your partner. It can also lead to a number of complications during pregnancy, so it is important for you and your partner to stop smoking before you start trying for a baby.

Smoking in pregnancy can increase the risk of:

• Miscarriage
• Heart defects
• Low birth weight
• Pre-term birth
• Stillbirth

Even second-hand smoke can affect your growing baby, so it's important that your partner also stops smoking.

Click here for more information about quitting smoking

Alcohol

Drinking alcohol can make it more difficult to become pregnant as it could reduce your fertility. It can be harmful to your unborn baby and drinking alcohol while pregnant is not recommended. So if you have decided to try for a baby, it's sensible to cut out alcohol, because you will not know straight away when you become pregnant.

Use the tool below to calculate how much alcohol you and your partner are drinking.

Alcohol change unit calculator

Take Folic Acid

Folic acid supplements help to prevent neural tube defects (a problem at birth with the baby’s brain, spine or spinal cord). You should start taking folic acid when you start trying for a baby and continue taking it until you are 12 weeks pregnant.

You can also include more folic acid in your diet - for example, by eating more green vegetables, or cereals/bread with extra folic acid added. Please continue to take the recommended amount of folic acid even if you are eating these foods.

The standard dose of folic acid is 400 micrograms. If any of the following apply to you, you should see your GP as you may need a higher dose:

• You have diabetes
• You take drugs for epilepsy
• You have had a previous pregnancy affected by a neural tube defect
• You or your partner have a family history of neural tube defects
• You have a BMI of over 30.

Vaccinations

You will need to think about being up to date with your vaccinations if you are considering trying to get pregnant, as there are some infections which can harm your baby if you catch them during pregnancy.

One of these is rubella, or German Measles, which can cause sight, hearing and heart problems and even death. It is important to have had two doses of the MMR vaccination to ensure you are protected - your GP will be able to tell you how many doses you have had. As it is a live vaccine, you should not get pregnant for one month following the vaccination and you should not have it if you are already pregnant.

Another important vaccination is Covid-19, as you are at higher risk of becoming seriously unwell from Covid-19 when you are pregnant. There is no evidence that the vaccine affects your chances of becoming pregnant and it is not a live vaccine, so you can have it if you are already pregnant.

Medication

Some prescribed medications are not recommended to be taken during pregnancy and when trying for a baby. If you are on medication, you should always check with your GP to see if it needs to be changed.

You will also need to be careful when using over-the-counter medicine and check with your GP or the pharmacist that it is safe for you to take.

Persistent Pelvic Pain

Before trying to get pregnant, you should consider the health of your pelvic floor, as it can sometimes be a barrier to conceiving. Your pelvic floor muscles are the supportive muscles which fill the lower part of the pelvis and surround the bladder opening, vagina and bowel.

The pelvic floor has four main roles:

• It helps you to control wee, wind and poo
• It supports your pelvic organs (bladder, womb and bowel) and keeps them in the correct position
• It can help to improve sex by increasing your sensation, grip and orgasm
• It helps to keep your pelvis and hips stable

You can work the pelvic floor muscles without realising, causing increased tension which prevents the muscles from relaxing. This can affect how your bladder and bowel work and also cause pain, which is commonly felt during sex. Painful sex is called dyspareunia and it can make trying to get pregnant less enjoyable and more stressful.

Having Sex at the Right Time

You are more likely to get pregnant around the time you are ovulating, which is when an egg becomes ready and you are at your most fertile. This is usually 12 to 16 days before your period starts.

Before you have unprotected sex, it is sensible for you and your partner to test for sexually transmitted infections. You can arrange this through the iCaSH website or by calling 0300 3003030.

To give yourself the best chance of getting pregnant, have sex every two to three days without using contraception and make sure sperm enters the vagina.

If you are under 40 and have regular sex without using contraception, there is an 80% chance you will get pregnant within one year. If you have been trying for more than a year without success, you should see your GP.